Horseshoe with racing calks



1969 F. w. TEIXEIRA I 3,460,627

HORSESHOE WITH RACING CALKS Filed March 10, 1967 INVENTOK United States Patent 3,460,627 HORSESHOE WITH RACING CALKS Franklin W. Teixeira, Rte. 1, Box 758, Pleasanton, Calif. 94566 Filed Mar. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 622,318 Int. Cl. A011 7/04, 1/00 U.S. Cl. 168- 29 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention This invention pertains to horseshoes and in particular to shoes to give race horses greater traction on muddy tracks. The type of shoes presently used as, for example, on California tracks for muddy conditions are dangerous and absolutely cannot be used on dry tracks. The shoes now used present a broad surface transverse to the direction of travel. These shoes stop the forward motion of the shoe too quickly if the shoe encounters a dry spot in the track. Horses wearing such shoes have been known to stumble, break their legs and have to be destroyed. The shoes presently used must be removed and the horses reshod when the track dries. Continued changing of shoes splits the hoof and frequent nailing increases the change of lameness from an incorrectly nailed shoe.

Summary The gist of the invention is the discovery that long narrow calks arranged generally longitudinally to the direction of travel and providing controlled forward slippage provide snfiicient forward traction while preventing slippage in the transverse direction to aid the horse in negotiating turns without side slipping.

An object of the present invention is to provide a shoe for race horses which will provide traction on wet tracks yet may be worn on dry tracks also without injury to the horse.

Another object is to provide a means for easily and quickly modifying existing types of racing shoes to practice this invention.

A still further object is to provide an inexpensive shoe which can be worn on wet and dry tracks and yet will give as much wearing time as standard shoes.

Still another object is to provide a traction shoe for the horse so that he will be level, properly balanced and will travel squarely.

A further object is to provide a traction shoe which will not injure the horse if the hoof interference or cross firing occurs.

Another object is to provide a traction shoe which will not contribute to various ailments of thoroughbreds which are so often attributable to existing traction shoes such as bowed tendon, bog spavin, bone spavin, bucked shins, curb knee spavin, osselets and ring-bone.

Still another object is to provide a shoe which is self cleaning and will not cake with mud and dirt.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which of the foregoing will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawing accompanying and forming part of this specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by the said drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Brief description of the drawing FIGURE 1 is a bottom plan view of a front shoe con structed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a bottom plan view of the front shoe constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of a rear shoe of another embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged side elevation view of the shoe in FIGURE 1 taken substantially along the line 44 showing parts in cross-section.

FIGURE 5 is another enlarged view of a portion of the shoe of FIGURE 1 taken substantially along the line 5-5 and showing parts in cross section.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the portion of the shoe in FIGURE 1 taken substantially along the line 66.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of the shoe in FIGURE 3 taken substantially along the line 7-7.

Description of the preferred embodiments The racing horseshoe 1 having a toe grip 3 of the present invention consists briefly of a plurality of calks 5, 6, 7 and 8 projecting downwardly from the shoe substantially the same distance as the toe grip proving a level support for the hoof; the calks having a length substantially greater than their width and being positioned with their longitudinal axes generally parallel to tangents on the rim of said shoe at their points of attachment providing controlled forward slippage; said calks having outside faces 12, 13, 14 and 15 respectively generally perpendicular to the plane of the shoe for resisting lateral slippage; and the calks being shaped to provide rounded edges to prevent cutting of the horses legs.

Except for the addition of the calks 5, 6, '7 and 8, the shoe shown in FIGURE 1 is a typical standard racing plate. The shoe has a toe grip 3 at the front which extends downwardly from the base of the shoe and is formed with a plurality of nail openings 17 for attaching the shoe to the hoof of the horse. The nail openings and calks are placed in a shallow groove 19 which runs generally the length of the shoe between inner ridge 21 and outer ridge 23.

Referring to FIGURE 6, the construction of an individual calk is more clearly shown. The calk is preferably made from a material having a hardness and wear resistance greater than the high strength aluminum generally used in making racing shoes. Any hard grade steel would be suitable. The calk is provided with a spur 25 attached to the bottom edge 27 of the calk. The spur is driven into an opening in the base of the shoe and permanently attached as by spot welding shown by weld fillet 29.

The shape of the calk is extremely important in accomplishing the objects of this invention. As stated above, the outside face is generally flat thereby presenting a surface which is perpendicular to the plane of the shoe. The inside faces 32, 33, 34 and 35 respectively are also preferably generally flat and perpendicular to the plane of the shoe. All corners of the calk are rounded such as corners 36 and 37 so that the horse does not cut himself if the calk accidently comes in contact with him. The long edges of the calk are also rounded as for example edges 39 and 40 of calk 8 as shown in FIGURE 1. In like manner the vertical edges 42 and 43 of calk 8 as shown in FIGURE 5.

The rounding of all of the edges gives the longitudinal plane of the calks a generally hemispherical profile as shown in FIGURE 6.

The placement of the calks, as above set forth, is such that the shoe is level so that the horse will be evenly supported. Thus the calks project from the base of the shoe the same distance as the toe guard. The heel calks and 8 are positioned forwardly of the tapered heel edges 45 and 46 of the shoe. The front calks 6 and 7 are generally midway between the heel calks and the toe grip.

FIGURE 2 illustrates a front shoe constructed in accordance with the present invention carrying rear calks 5' and 8' and front calks 6 and 7. The shoe also carries a toe grip 3'. The calks of the front shoe are in every re spect identical to the calks of the rear shoe shown in FIGURES 1, 4 and 5 and need not be further described.

The shoe shown in FIGURE 3 is a modified rear shoe carrying front calks 6" and 7". These calks are in every way identical to calks 6 and 7 previously described. The shoe of FIGURE 3 differs from the previous shoes in that it carries heel blocks 48 and 49. These heel blocks are standard on shoes presently used to elevate the heel of horses which have a tendency to have low heels and require elevation. Note the heel blocks are located closer to the heel of the shoe. The modified shoe of FIGURE 3 also carries a toe grip 3".

As set forth above, the primary purpose of this invention is to provide traction for race horses on wet tracks without endangering the horse. This can best be illustrated by describing in some detail the action of the shoe upon the track. When the horse is running at top speed, he brings his shoe down upon the track so that the heel touches first. Note that the shoe is tapered at the heel. The rear calks 5 and 8 are the next part of the shoe to touch the ground. Since the calk is oriented with its long side roughly parallel to the direction of travel thus preventing very little surface area in the direction of travel, the shoe begins to dig into the track but continues to slide forwardly. Note further that the front edges of the rear :alks are rounded thus reducing the resistance of the calk against the track. Next, the front calks 6 and 7 come down Jpon the tracks and since they also are oriented with their longitudinal edges generally parallel to the direction of :ravel, the shoe is still not stopped and continues its forward slide. Finally, the toe grip comes in contact with the track surface and the sliding swiftly comes to a stop or nearly a stop. As the horse goes forward on its hoof, the :oe grip and the forward calks dig in and a good gripping face is provided for the thrust of the hoof against the ;rack. Regardless of the gait of the horse, the action at the front and rear shoes is about the same. Again, it is ;his controlled sliding as the hoof comes down upon the ;rack that makes the shoe safe for high-speed running. Thus if the calks should come down upon a dry hard spot ,n the track, the shoe will not be brought suddenly to an ibrupt stop which might cause the horse to stumble and fall. Further, the longitudinal orientation of the calks and be controlled sliding does not stop the horses foot so tbruptly as to injure the tendons and bones of the horse thereby causing the ailments described in the objects of he invention.

The fact that the orientation of the calks presents less ;urface area to stop forward motion permits the shoe as lescribed to be actually used on dry tracks. The advantage n being able to run on dry as well as wet tracks is obvious. [he shoes need not be changed for the different types )f tracks thus preventing reshoeing of the horse and the langers of splitting the hoof or driving a nail in too far 1nd causing lameness. Actually, using calks having a hardiess greater than the hardness of the aluminum shoe pernits the shoe to be worn a full week longer than the rtandard shoe.

Since a great portion of any racing track is curved, tracion in the curves is extremely important. Providing substantially flat vertical sides on the calks prevents side slipping to an even greater degree than it prevents forward slipping. This is a great advantage over the construction of the prior art calks which are arranged with the broad side of the calks in a transverse direction to the direction of travel. Thus the present art shoes present little or no resistance to slide slippage.

The use of the shoes as described in the present invention have been used with dramatic results at Bay Meadows, San Mateo, Calif. Seven out of nine horses fitted with the Teixeira Double Calk shoes ran first in their respective races. One of the nine horses which did not come in first actually moved from last place to second place after being fitted with the Teixeira shoe.

I claim:

1. A racing horseshoe having a toe grip and a nail hole channel comprising:

at least four generally rectangular calks positioned between the heel nad toe of the shoe and projecting downwardly from said shoe substantially the same distance as said toe grip providing a level support for the hoof to prevent bending of the shoe and popping the nails, the rearmost calks of the rear shoes being mounted from the heel of said shoe a distance at least equal to the projecting distance of said calk to prevent the calks of the rear and front shoes from catching and causing the horse to stumble;

said calks having a lateral thickness about equal to the diameter of the nail holes and a longitudinal length less than the width of the shoe to permit the weight of the horse to normally rest on the base of the shoe rather than the calks;

said calks having a length substantially greater than their width and being positioned with their longitudinal axes generally parallel to tangents on the rim of said shoe at their points of attachment providing controlled forward slippage and prevent lateral slippage;

said calks being inset from the outer rim of the shoe and within said nail hole channel to prevent the calks from cutting the horse;

said calks having inner and outside faces generally perpendicular to the plane of said shoe for resisting lateral slippage; and

said calks being shaped to provide rounded edges to prevent cutting the horses legs.

2. A rear shoe as characterized in claim 1 in which the rear set of calks is positioned near the ends of the shoes providing elevation for horses with low heels.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 28,469 5/1860 Goodenough l6824 75,456 3/1868 Perkins 168-24 329,700 11/1885 Bellamy 168-24 496,760 5/1893 Tracy 168--24 507,272 10/1893 Jerome 1684 507,276 10/1893 Kline l6824 516,046 3/1894 Birdsall 16824 553,586 1/1896 Kent 168-4 652,469 6/1900 Young 1684 1,271,177 7/1918 Kusaik l68-4 1,397,046 11/1921 Haller 168-29 ALDRICH F. MEDBERY, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 16824 

